Sunday Dinner
by Alohaemora
Summary: Zacharias had always hated Sunday dinners, but this summer, they had become quite intolerable.


6 August 1995

The laughter and chatter of the Smith family ebbed and flowed around the formal dining table. Scowling with his elbow propped on the dinner table, Zacharias poked moodily at his plate of supper.

He had always hated Sunday dinners, but this summer, they had become quite intolerable. He didn't know if it was because, recently, he'd begun to feel like he'd outgrown his older sisters—or because his brothers-in-law's infuriating habit of competing for his father's favor had reached impossible heights—but Zacharias was quite looking forward to leaving for Hogwarts in three weeks so he could at last be spared from this horrible weekly tradition.

A pointed cough from somewhere to his left caught his attention, and Zacharias looked around. His mother was staring meaningfully at his elbow, which was still resting on the table. Zacharias rolled his eyes at her but, knowing better than to pick a fight at the dinner table, he made a big show of lifting his left arm up and off the table. Mum gave him a too-bright smile in return, then returned to her meal. Shaking his head, Zacharias speared a piece of roast chicken with his fork and chewed it sullenly.

For as long as he could remember, Sunday dinner had been a non-negotiable in his family—one of the few non-negotiables, in fact, that his parents had ever set. As the youngest—and only boy—among his siblings, Zacharias had always been able to get around most of the rules his parents tried to enforce. But Sunday dinner? Not a chance.

So, every Sunday since he was a child, Zacharias had reported to the formal dining room at seven o'clock sharp. After his oldest sister Norrie had gotten married, back when Zacharias was ten, he had thought perhaps she might stop attending. But no—when Sunday had rolled around, she _and_ her swotty husband Gerald had turned up for dinner.

Nowadays, the table was practically bursting at the seams, held together by a permanent Undetectable Extension Charm. His sister Kitty had gotten herself married as well, and both Norrie and Kitty had squealing, squirmy babies. Sunday dinner was no longer just Zacharias and his four sisters crowded around a table, being told to _stop slouching_ and _finish their vegetables _by their parents. No, it was a right old loony bin—often complete with fights, tears, and _hours _of forced, mind-numbing conversation.

Zacharias hated it.

"Did you read the _Prophet _this morning, Wilfred? Apparently, Dumbledore visited the Ministry again—this time, to try and turn some Aurors against Fudge."

Zacharias glanced up. Of course—it was Kitty's husband, Auggie, who had spoken, puffing his chest out importantly. _Merlin, was there anyone in the world more pompous than the Macmillans?_ Not for the first time was Zacharias immeasurably grateful that Ernie Macmillan was a year older than he was—he couldn't imagine sharing a dormitory with a prat like Auggie.

Meanwhile, at Auggie's pronouncement, Dad—whose mouth was full of mashed potato—had let out an angry huff, spraying bits of potato everywhere.

"Preposterous," Dad blustered to his son-in-law, vigorously shoveling another spoonful of potato into his mouth. "_Utterly_ preposterous—it's a miracle that man is still headmaster, with all of the fires he's been lighting in the Ministry recently. I've got half a mind to keep Sally and Zacharias home from Hogwarts until the school governors find the bollocks to unseat him, once and for all."

Zacharias gaped at his father. Then, he turned to his right, where his older sister Sally was sitting. She too was staring at their father in astonishment.

"You—you can't keep us home from school," Sally sputtered, dropping her fork with a clatter. "It's _school_."

Dad glared at her across the table, his auburn mustache bristling. "I can, young lady, and I will if I have to," he rumbled. "I don't want you and your brother being brainwashed into believing that You-Know-Who is back—"

"_Brainwashed?_" Sally had gotten to her feet, sounding beside herself now. Zacharias winced; of all his siblings, Sally had always been the best at winding their father up. "What do you mean _brainwashed?_ What—do you think Zacharias and I are _idiots? _That we don't already have opinions of our _own_—?"

"Sally," interrupted a quiet, but steely voice from across the table. Zacharias looked up; Audrey, Zacharias and Sally's closest sister in age, was looking at Sally significantly. "Don't do this—not here, not right now."

But Sally just glared at her. "Why not?" she spat. Breathing heavily, she rounded on their father again. "Why not?" she repeated, fixing Dad with a blazing look. "I think it's time this family realized that _some_ of us _don't_ think Harry Potter is a raving lunatic who dreamed up a whole fantasy about You-Know-Who coming back to life just to get attention."

Her words were met with shivering silence. Heart pounding against his ribcage, Zacharias looked around the table. Norrie and Kitty were wide-eyed with shock, while Audrey just looked exhausted. Mum had a hand over her mouth, and Dad's face was maroon and veiny. He seemed too angry to even speak.

In the end, it was Auggie who broke the silence. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, glancing at Dad before speaking.

"Sally," he said slowly, considering his sister-in-law with an almost pitying expression; Zacharias wanted to smack him. "I know you want to believe your classmate—Ernie does too—but—sweetheart, you have to look at the facts here—"

"And what are the _facts_, exactly?" Sally asked him coldly, eyes narrowed. She was still standing, her hands curled into fists. "Not what's written in the _Prophet_, surely? How can we be expected to trust a newspaper that's always been in the government's pocket?"

"That's not true," interjected Gerald, Norrie's husband; he was a senior editor for the paper's opinion section, Zacharias knew. "The _Prophet_ is independent from the Ministry, both editorially and financially—it always has been—"

"_Ha_," Sally snorted derisively. "Now, _that's_ a load of dragon dung, if ever I've—"

"_Enough!_" Dad roared, slamming his fist on the dinner table. Zacharias jumped nearly a foot in the air, and he wasn't the only one; even Auggie looked too stunned to speak. "Sally Constance Smith, you have disrespected nearly _everyone_ at this table tonight!" Dad thundered, eyes flashing. "I don't know what has gotten into you, but I know damn well that I did _not_ raise a daughter who behaves this way. You have embarrassed me, you have embarrassed your mother, and you have disgraced this family. If you have any desire at all to go back to Hogwarts in September, you will spend the rest of your summer _in your room!_"

Sally glowered at Dad, her body trembling with anger. Hurling her napkin onto her plate, Sally slammed her chair aside and stalked out of the room; a moment later, Zacharias could hear her raging and storming up the staircase to her bedroom.

Just then, as if on cue, two soft wails floated down the corridor outside the dining hall.

"That'll be the little ones," Kitty said quietly, putting down her napkin and standing up as well. Norrie followed suit. "The noise must have woken them…"

Zacharias watched his two oldest sisters climb to their feet and scuttle out of the room. Then, swallowing, he faced the table again. It was just his parents, Audrey, and his brothers-in-law left. Dad glared around at everyone, a muscle convulsing in his jaw.

"Does anyone else have any insolent remarks they can't wait to get off their chest?" he spat. "Or can we move on to desert?"

* * *

It was nearly eleven when Zacharias found himself climbing up the west staircase of his manor home to his bedroom. After Norrie and Kitty had returned from the nursery, dinner and desert had dragged uncomfortably on for another hour-and-a-half. Gerald and Auggie had reengaged in their usual juvenile competition—this time vying for who could improve Zacharias's father's mood the most. At last, when Zacharias had thought he could stand it no longer, Norrie and Kitty had mercifully declared that it was time for themselves and their husbands to get their children home to bed. Audrey had disappeared to her flat shortly after, and Zacharias had ducked out of the formal dining hall faster than his parents could clear their plates.

Kicking gloomily at the mustard yellow carpet of the manor's second floor, Zacharias dragged his feet down the upstairs hallway to his bedroom. But halfway there, he paused. There was a thin strip of light shining under Sally's bedroom door.

Zacharias approached his sister's doorframe slowly, biting his lip. There had been a time, many years ago, when he and Sally were friends. But recently, the only thing they seemed to have in common was the wall between their bedrooms. Sally was a loner, a free spirit, who seemed not to care in the slightest what people thought of her or her strong convictions. And Zacharias…well, he wasn't like his sister, that was for sure…

For another moment, he just stared at Sally's door. Then, before he could change his mind, he reached up and knocked.

Behind the door, Sally's muffled, furious voice fired up at once.

"You only said I had to go to my room—you didn't say I had to _talk_ to you about it!"

"No—Sal, it…it's me," Zacharias said quickly. "I—er—never mind, actually, I can just go to my room—"

Sally's bedroom door clicked open, and she stood before him, eyebrows raised skeptically. Zacharias couldn't blame her—he was fairly sure this was the first time they'd spoken all summer.

"Yes?" she asked slowly.

Zacharias flushed slightly. "You—er…are you all right?"

Sally rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine," she muttered, stepping aside, and Zacharias shuffled uncomfortably into the room. Looking around for a place to sit, he finally settled on her desk in the corner. Meanwhile, Sally threw herself onto her bed and stared bitterly up at the ceiling. "Just sick and tired of this family, but that's not exactly news."

"Dad was in rare form tonight," Zacharias said, shaking his head. "I don't think I've seen him that angry since…since Audrey refused to come work at the apothecary with him."

"Well, maybe if he got his head out of his arse, he wouldn't have to be so angry about everything," Sally said acidly. "Honestly, the way he was going on at dinner, you'd think Dumbledore had personally wronged him or something—he just flat our refuses to consider any opinions he doesn't agree with."

Zacharias was quiet, looking across the bedroom at his older sister—well, _older_ was just a technicality. He and Sally had been born only a year-and-a-half apart. But in that moment, jaw clenched and expression blazing, Sally looked far older than he did.

"So you believe it, then?" Zacharias asked in a low voice. "What Dumbledore and—and Potter are saying about You-Know-Who?"

There was a short pause. Then, suddenly, Sally sat up in her bed and fixed Zacharias with a sharp look. "You don't?" she asked in a hard voice.

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric was murdered by You-Know-Who and that Potter brought Cedric's body back to Hogwarts," Zacharias said defensively. "He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us how Cedric was killed—how am I supposed to know what to believe if I don't have any information?"

"But—Zach—it's so obvious the Ministry's hiding something!" Sally cried, flinging a hand in the air. "Haven't you been listening when Audrey talks about the things she's noticed in the Law Enforcement office? They're ignoring warning signs—disappearances, Muggle murders—they don't _want_ us to believe what Dumbledore told us—"

"Hey," Zacharias raised his hands. "Sal—relax. I'm on your side, remember?"

Sally glared at him. Then, with an impatient noise, she slumped back against her pillows, glowering up at the ceiling again.

"Look—I just—I need more information," Zacharias told her slowly. "If I'm going to believe that You-Know-Who is back—and that he k-killed my Quidditch caption—I'm going to need some actual details."

Sally didn't respond for a long moment. Then—

"You should've been a Slytherin," she muttered.

"You should've been a Gryffindor," Zacharias shot back, rolling his eyes.

"Touché," Sally said dryly. She looked at Zacharias and smirked. "Too bad we've got to uphold the Hufflepuff legacy, eh?"

Zacharias snorted. "I think Helga Hufflepuff would wish she never procreated if she knew our family would turn out to be her last living descendants."

Sally burst into laughter, and Zacharias couldn't help but grin as well. As Sally's giggles subsided, a comfortable silence fell over the pair, and Zacharias found his attention wandering around Sally's bedroom—over the familiar lavender walls, over the Hufflepuff crest that hung in all the manor's bedroom's…and finally, on the bulletin board in front of her desk. It was teeming with newspaper clippings—and as Zacharias took a closer look, he realized that all the clippings were from this past summer. They weren't headlines or cover-page stories, but rather small, throwaway pieces—mostly about crimes: murders, kidnappings, spell damage accidents. With a jolt, Zacharias realized that Sally must have spent hours combing through the _Daily Prophet_ every morning just to separate what she thought were rubbish articles from real news…

Swallowing, Zacharias looked back around at Sally. She was still slumped back against her pillows, nibbling distractedly at her fingernails.

"I suppose I should probably Floo Audrey and apologize," she mumbled, frowning at her left index finger. "She was right—I shouldn't have picked that fight at dinner. It wasn't worth it."

Zacharias shrugged. "Audrey probably understands. Her relationship with Dad is almost as rubbish as yours."

Sally sighed heavily. "Still. He's probably going to blame her for _brainwashing_ me into how I acted today—she doesn't deserve to deal with that." She was quiet for another moment. Then, she looked at Zacharias, smirking. "Anyway. Are you finally going to give up the arsehole act this term?"

Zacharias spluttered. "Excuse me—the _what_, exactly?"

"Oh, please," Sally snorted. "Don't play dumb, Zach—I've seen the way you parade around the Hufflepuff common room like you own the place. When are you going to stop tormenting second years and being a pain in Ernie's arse? I heard from Kitty he got Prefect."

Zacharias groaned. "You're _joking_."

"He's not as bad as his brother," Sally said, shrugging. "A little bit of a prat, maybe—but definitely not as insufferable." She paused for a moment. Then, she shook her head, expression incredulous. "Merlin, Norrie and Kitty have shite taste in wizards."

Zacharias snorted with laughter. "Hopefully, Audrey picks someone better."

"Of course she will," Sally said firmly.

Zacharias looked at her and smiled. Then, he sat up straight. "All right—how about I make you a deal? If I try to be less of an arse this year and actually make an attempt with Ernie, then _you_ have to talk to people more."

Sally narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"I might walk around common room like I own the place," Zacharias shrugged, "but you're barely ever there. C'mon. Stop eating lunch alone in your dorm, and try _talking_ to the other girls in your year."

Sally scowled at him. "I don't like the girls in my year! Besides, they all paired off in first year—Hannah and Susan have their little group with Ernie and Justin—and Megan, Sophie, and Sally-Anne are just _annoying_—"

"Fine," Zacharias rolled his eyes. "Then, come talk to _me_. Or am I too annoying for you too?"

Sally stared at him, and Zacharias held his breath, waiting…

Then— "No," she said stiffly. "I suppose you're all right—for a spoiled brat, anyway."

Zacharias grinned. Then, swinging himself out of his sister's desk chair and dusting off his jeans, he walked over to her door. At the door, he paused, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Sal…you know Dad'll come around," he told her in a low voice. "He won't be mad about tonight forever."

Sally didn't respond immediately. But then, eyes blazing, she caught his gaze.

"Honestly, Zach, I don't think I give a damn if he comes around or not," she said.

Zacharias looked back at her for a long moment. Then, swallowing, he ducked out of her bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Only three more Sundays till September first.

* * *

Author's Note:

This is probably one of the most niche things I've ever written. But humor me, I've been wanting to delve more into my headcanon for Zacharias/the Smith family for years, ever since that one line in HBP about Zacharias being "escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father" after Dumbledore's death. In this story, Sally Smith is from Jo's "Original Forty" and Audrey is Percy's eventual wife.

Anyway, if you read this, I hope you enjoyed it! This was written for hmweasley's Library Challenge. My prompt was to write about a sibling relationship.

Ari


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